Ethnic Baloch nationalist are pitted against Punjabi chauvinism and Islamabad's [read pakistan Army's] attempts to control it through ruthless campaign of genocide.
Although Balochistan is kept hermitically sealed from the outside world, there are some intrepid reporters and writers who manage to publish reports about what has been happening there. Disappearances of the young men especially those suspected or actually involved with Baloch nationalism are common place. The pattern is familiar where these young men are picked up and after a few days their bodies are found in some roadside ditch mutilated and with obvious marks of torture.
The message is horrific and intended to deter the young. Apparently this does not work and the disappearances and torture continue. It is a reflection of the state of affairs in Balochistan that none of the 65 members of the provincial assembly thought it fit to raise this issue in the assembly. Either helpless, unwilling, complicit or just frightened, this is hardly an edifying reflection of the state of affairs in that province.
There are various estimates of the number of enforced disappearances of Baloch activists, who have been abducted by Pakistan Army in the last decade. In their March 2010 report, the Asian Human Rights Commission estimated the number to be about 4000 individuals. Most Baloch human rights sources and political organisations however believe there were between 8000 to 12000 victims.
Amnesty International in its report of October 26, 2010 and later, the Asian Human Rights Commission in its November 2010 confirmed that Pakistan security forces had abducted and killed a number of Baloch political and human rights activists. Despite coercive actions by the security forces Baloch students and activists participated in 713 demonstrations both inside and outside of Balochistan against Pakistan's atrocities. There were a total of 225 days of hunger strikes, 47 days' shut downs and 95 rallies in different parts of the province.
The desire to mine and profit from Balochistan's enormous mineral reserves may be one of the reasons why silence about the troubles and repression in Balochistan is convenient. Western commercial interests along with the well known US/NATO interests in Balochistan because of the Afghan war and Chinese geo-strategic interests provide the strongest coalition of interests.
It is a remarkable arrangement under which Pakistan continues to be delinquent and takes rewards for this from the west, then offers its territory to the west and China for mineral exploitation and strategic use. In return buys their silence while it suppresses movements in Balochistan.
Earlier: napaki.tumblr.com
Twitter handle: @napaki
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